I am contemplating bringing my list up to date and possibly dusting it off for some playtime. The combination of Cabal Stronghold and Thrilling Encore has me wanting to test some of these tasty new treats. Several new instants also seem really nice and like something I would want to try.
DECK CHANGES:
Skeletal Scrying -> Succumb to Temptation I have always had the issue with the scrying of figuring out when to cast this card in part because it consumes resources that I do actually use not to mention because it is an X spell. There are not a lot of resources I often want to throw away given most of them can be reused through means of Toshiro or rez effects.
Disciple of Bolas -> Blood Artist I always felt like the Disciple was a little odd in here given how many bodies it takes to make this card work. With this kind of deck, lots of our draw effects are fueled by lifegain and so I want to see how Blood Artist might work in here.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger -> Razaketh, the Foulblooded Ulamog was alright and there were uses in him. I changed my meta though and I am seeing a little less gods / Darksteel Plate effects so with that I also have less feeling of need for spot exile removal. I also added Ugin right at the end of when I was playing this deck last. Razaketh gives me a very strong creature to have in play as well as a sac outlet and tutor.
Unstable Obelisk -> Golden Guardian Obelisk is not great ramp or removal, its also an artifact which does not have very good synergy with what this deck does. I like the Golem because it is a creature who turns into ramp which can be a great mana dump.
Memory Jar -> Dark Bargain this change does give me a little less raw power but it does shift things towards more synergy and if you look at the Bargain with flashback its actually about the same power level at that point. Memory Jar does kind of force you to burn resources as you draw them though so I actually like this shift in draw.
Animate Dead -> Thrilling Encore shifting rez to another effect. Animate Dead is a fine card and it works well. Thrilling Encore on the other hand is a HUGE VALUE rez that plays best towards a draw go strategy (which this deck is) not to mention the synergy that Toshiro has with it being able to flash it back.
Attrition -> Dowsing Dagger not that I dislike Attrition, but Dowsing Dagger has great synergy with Toshiro and both cards are non creature / instants (the things this deck has synergy with). Being that Toshiro is a 3 drop, the dowsing dagger has a great curve with him and given that I run two lands that copy other lands this is a solid target to copy as well.
Grave Birthing -> Vona's Hunger I played with Grave Birthing for a while and while its not a bad card, the fact that its owner chooses the exile target is rarely helpful. Mostly I was just getting to draw a card and make a dude. Vona's Hunger seems like a great edict even if it is just Fleshbag Marauder at instant speed, the fact that its an instant means that we can flash it back and the fact that it can force half of each opponent's creatures to be sacrificed seems great vs swarms.
Dark Petition -> Primal Amulet I had an issue with Dark Petition in that it never seemed like a great card. When it was at its best, it was still bad Demonic Tutor in that it costs me 5 mana and put three back but being that this deck is often responsive I can't nicely tutor up instants to cast later with this. It also has the problem of being somewhat reliant on my graveyard and drawing it later in the game / not being grave hated for it to not be totally terrible. Its also a sorcery to boot. Primal Amulet seems really nice given that it sort of gives me two functions and I like both sides of what it can do. Cost reducing kill spells to double cast them easier which will then flip this easier is also really nice.
Arcane Lighthouse -> Cabal Stronghold I wanted to make room for the sweet new coffers land. I have been seeing less hexproof of late but I could see an argument to adjust in other ways assuming you have issues with hexproof.
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder -> Demonlord Belzenlok My issue with Kothoped is that he is a value over time effect that I can't always control all that well. I had a few games where I died or came close to it because I would cast him and like 4 turns later a wrath for noncreatures would wreck me. I like that Belzenlok is a little more controllable and gives me a little more immediate of draw with less concern of if it lives too long.
Phyrexian Arena -> Sword of the Animist honestly, I have been liking Arena a little less as time has gone on. The fact that it doesn't draw until the next turn as well as the fact that it is not something I really have synergy with in this list makes me question it. Getting more lands into play sooner also seems really really good. I am not sure if I quit playing this list before Animist came out or if I had a reason not to play it but its a card that has grown on me and I would love to have more ramp a little more than I would slow draw. Toshiro attacking as a 3/3 that gets buffed to a 4/4 if blocked seems plenty big enough to get some work in.
That, is a lot of changes. Some of this is me wanting to try out some new cards but I really do feel like several of these will be really nice. There really had not been much for instant speed black draw before but there are two really cool new ones I am adding here. The increase in land based ramp is also something I am really looking forward to as well. Meteor Golem is also something that seems a little different and useful in that it could be rezed. I will have to think about if I can make room for that for testing at some point.
I think its a solid card and this is a big mana deck so its totally an option. My issue is more that the deck doesn't have much synergy to make the effect better for us and its sort of an all or nothing effect in that it either does all the work or it is not worth casting. What I mean by this is lets say you get it in an opening hand or really any time before turn 8+. This is a card that I don't really see a point casting until you hit something like 8-10+ mana as the effect just isn't going to hurt opponents much until then.
On top of it being slow and expensive, its going to tap you out at sorcery speed even if you have a bunch of mana and if opponents are still alive after you cast it you will be tapped out. If opponents are playing a token strategy for example its much harder to use this effect as you need to clear out the tokens first or wait a lot longer.
I guess overall my issue with the card is that it doesn't really have much interaction with the rest of the deck. On top of that it feels very narrow in when I would want it. I agree that it seems strong when you get it late and jam a ton of mana into it but shy of using it way late to murder everyone it feels a little awkward to me.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I think that you are generally far better off being proactive rather than reactive with Citadel. In several cases you could burn some spot removal spells to just kill something to move to the next card but you spoil the point of instant speed in a lot of ways with it. I think this card is going to be a lot stronger with a deck that has more proactive sorcery speed plays that it wants to make rather than a lot of the reactive effects we have here.
It would probably still be fine if you wanted to slot it in but if you actually save an instant to respond with it you give up a lot of the potential of what you could get out of the card. Where it really shines in my eyes would be a deck with a low curve like say a Shadowborn Apostles deck or maybe an Edgar Markov list. Essentially what I am saying is a low curve aggressive sort of deck where you might see Dark Confidant / Ad Nauseam.
DECK CHANGES:
That, is a lot of changes. Some of this is me wanting to try out some new cards but I really do feel like several of these will be really nice. There really had not been much for instant speed black draw before but there are two really cool new ones I am adding here. The increase in land based ramp is also something I am really looking forward to as well. Meteor Golem is also something that seems a little different and useful in that it could be rezed. I will have to think about if I can make room for that for testing at some point.
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[Modern] Allies
I think its a solid card and this is a big mana deck so its totally an option. My issue is more that the deck doesn't have much synergy to make the effect better for us and its sort of an all or nothing effect in that it either does all the work or it is not worth casting. What I mean by this is lets say you get it in an opening hand or really any time before turn 8+. This is a card that I don't really see a point casting until you hit something like 8-10+ mana as the effect just isn't going to hurt opponents much until then.
On top of it being slow and expensive, its going to tap you out at sorcery speed even if you have a bunch of mana and if opponents are still alive after you cast it you will be tapped out. If opponents are playing a token strategy for example its much harder to use this effect as you need to clear out the tokens first or wait a lot longer.
I guess overall my issue with the card is that it doesn't really have much interaction with the rest of the deck. On top of that it feels very narrow in when I would want it. I agree that it seems strong when you get it late and jam a ton of mana into it but shy of using it way late to murder everyone it feels a little awkward to me.
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[Modern] Allies
I think that you are generally far better off being proactive rather than reactive with Citadel. In several cases you could burn some spot removal spells to just kill something to move to the next card but you spoil the point of instant speed in a lot of ways with it. I think this card is going to be a lot stronger with a deck that has more proactive sorcery speed plays that it wants to make rather than a lot of the reactive effects we have here.
It would probably still be fine if you wanted to slot it in but if you actually save an instant to respond with it you give up a lot of the potential of what you could get out of the card. Where it really shines in my eyes would be a deck with a low curve like say a Shadowborn Apostles deck or maybe an Edgar Markov list. Essentially what I am saying is a low curve aggressive sort of deck where you might see Dark Confidant / Ad Nauseam.
Liliana's Triumph on the other hand looks fantastic for this deck.
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[Modern] Allies